Diving at Akumal (Second Half)

After taking a day off, our first dives back were at Cenote Dos Ojos. Cenotes are rated on a scale from 1 (easiest) to 5 (hardest). Our dives were rated 1 and 2. Both were, at most, within 200m of an opening where you could surface. The first dive, "Barbie Line", was “roomier” and you didn’t have to worry so much about hitting something. The second dive, you had to be more on top of your buoyancy control to avoid getting too close to the formations and risk damaging them. Also on the second dive we surfaced for a few minutes in the “Bat Cave” which was aptly named because there were bats. 

The water was crystal clear but, annoyingly, my mask was fogging up badly, so I didn’t get the full effect of the clear water. 

The cenote formations under water were quite spectacular. Since I really didn’t know exactly what we were getting into, I didn’t take my camera. Between my mask fogging and trying to be very careful, it was one less thing to be stressed about. On top of that, as beautiful as the experience was, it reaffirmed my belief that I’m not fond of enclosed spaces! 

Eduardo giving a briefing on diving in the cenotes. 

Our last two days, we started earlier in the morning and did a deep dive (max. 30m) and then a second shallow dive. The deeper reef seemed to be a lot healthier with larger formations and more fish, which makes sense as it doesn’t get as much diver traffic. 

We again saw lots of turtles, some sharks – a couple reef sharks and a quick glimpse of a rarer bull shark (Eduardo said that’s just the second one he’s seen here), spotted lobster (much more colorful!), sting rays, a huge barracuda, and much more! 

Trumpet fish

Christmas Tree worms

Can you spot the flounder? 

More Christmas Tree worms

Some nice big barrel sponges on the deeper dives.

So colourful!

Lion fish - thankfully there don't seem to be many here. They are an invasive species.

Trying to grow coral.

Love the bright patterns and spots on the spotted lobster.

Trunk fish

Remoras (suckerfish) hitching a ride on the turtles.

This barracuda was huge!

Punta Laguna Nature Reserve

Halfway through our diving days, we took a day off and arranged with Avelino at Mayan Traveler to go to Punta Laguna Nature Reserve which is the "gateway to the Otoch Ma'ax Yetel Kooh National Protected Area, home to spider monkeys, howler monkeys, and many other types of animals and plants." 

We started off with a Mayan Ceremony to welcome us to the Reserve, wish us safety in the jungle and good luck in finding the monkeys. The Reserve is operated by locals and our guide was the son of the elder who did the ceremony. 

We managed to spot families of both spider monkeys and howler monkeys but there were so many trees I didn’t bother trying to get photos and just took video instead. A couple short clips turned out pretty good which I posted to Instagram stories and will try to get around to making a youtube video to add here later. 

Leaf cutter ants, which come out at night, make these "highways" through the jungle. 

An air plant

Avelino then gave us a choice of where to have lunch, and we chose to go to a Mayan community. The hot, freshly made tortillas, egg salad with a spinach-like green in it, squash and freshly mashed habaneros was delicious! A really nice change from a traditional restaurant. 

Tortillas don't get any fresher or hotter than these ones!

From top to bottom: egg salad, squash, freshly mashed habanero sauce. Only a drop of two of the habanero was needed to spice things up!

Our dessert was local organic honey on a tortilla. 

There were lots of fruit trees and vegetables grown on the farm. Papaya, lemon, lime, orange, squash, and much more! 

A beautiful bird of paradise.

Avelino was good about stopping suddenly for Andrew to take photos of birds! 

Avelino also arranged our transportation to and from Cancun. We would highly recommend him. He was quick to respond to all our inquiries and was well organized and on time.